


Life for Rent

by SLynn



Category: Firefly
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Song fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-02
Updated: 2012-09-02
Packaged: 2017-12-25 10:10:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/951852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SLynn/pseuds/SLynn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>But if my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy</i><br/>Well I deserve nothing more than I get<br/>Cos nothing I have is truly mine</p><p> </p><p>  <i><br/><b>“Life For Rent” by Dido</b><br/></i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Life for Rent

**Author's Note:**

> Another older fic I found on my laptop. Previously posted on LJ and ff.net.

Inara never imagined her life would be like this.

She was just a girl when out of hundreds of others she’d been picked to become a companion. Her family had been proud. It was an honor. And she’d been proud even if, at the time, she didn’t fully understand what it meant.

A companion was someone special. Someone revered.

But companions didn’t have families.

She had left hers at twelve.

Her mother, whose face now seems so distant, had cried. Her father had barely said a word. And her sister had been jealous. Jessenia had been passed over for training two years earlier and could not forgive her for being accepted. That was what Inara remembered most. She had never even said goodbye to her.

Training had been difficult and at first she had been extremely homesick. Homesick and lonely. But eventually the feelings had subsided, never really leaving but becoming gradually less intrusive as weeks became months became years. There was so much to learn and it left little time for such concerns. 

A companion’s life was always about giving of yourself to others. There was no recreation time. Who needed it anyways? Certainly not a companion. Companions only needed to give. And the more Inara understood that the more she felt that it truly was a blessed life.

In times of uncertainty, she was always provided for. Wherever she went she was respected. Her company sought after. Inara was proud of who she was. Her station in life was secure.

And then…

What? She wasn’t sure. 

She awoke one day and felt empty. Used. Her life, her entire life she’d given to others. Her mind, her body, her soul. 

What did she have to show for it?

Friends? Not really. Companions rarely interacted with anyone outside their sect. And even if they did it was mostly in an exchange of ideas, no real discussions about themselves.

Family? No. Her family was lost to her. She hadn’t seen them in nearly fifteen years. No contact had been allowed until she had completed training and after that she hadn’t been able to locate them.

A life? Certainly not one of her own. She kept her own schedule but was required to fill so many hours a week in support of her sect. She hadn’t yet gained the status to set her own hours.

Inara discovered something about herself that morning. She discovered that she owned nothing in this world, not even herself. And more importantly she discovered that those feelings of loneliness and that sense of longing, longing for a home, were still there. There and stronger then ever, hungry for having slept so many years.

So she did the only thing she could. She left.

Inara had never been certain of where she would go upon leaving the sect, or even if she’d be allowed, but she was determined and a determined Inara was not someone to be opposed. 

So she got her leave.

She would still be a licensed companion. Still make monthly contributions to her sect, but she would be free to travel as she liked and how she chose too.

And Inara chose Serenity.

She new that Malcolm Reynolds only wanted her onboard as cover for his more colorful jobs. And she also, after their first meeting no less, knew what he thought of her and her profession. But she chose Serenity just the same.

Never quite certain why herself, she had just known it was her place. From the moment she set foot on her. As if being aboard Serenity was a calling in itself. And now it was her home. A real home. And aboard it was her family. The only real family she’d known.

She sat and thought about how she’d ended up here. How lucky she’d been. How she’d found her way here. Home. Finally home. 

And the more she thought the more she realized that no one ever really found serenity. 

Serenity found them.


End file.
